News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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From left, Vernon George, Aaron Andrews, Zane Bjorson, Macy Paslay, Tanner Lauseng, Jamie Dobson, Harper Wahpat, Tony Cantrell, Javon Lewis-Torres, Roamen Picard, Dy Mnd Friedlander, and Eva Connor take off from the starting line during Mini Bloomsday at Lake Roosevelt Elementary on Friday. - Scott Hunter photo...
The Colville Tribes have formed a horse management team to help manage the feral horses on the reservation. The tribes have, in recent years, paid money to remove portions of the feral horse population via controversial roundups using helicopters to herd the animals, which were eventually shipped to Canada for slaughter. The most recent effort “failed miserably,” according to the tribes’ Natural Resource Director Cody Desautel. Sun J Ranch, which had removed horses from the reservation in the past, was paid $50,000 for this year’s removal...
A peaceful, but angry, group of about 40-50 people gathered outside of city hall in Electric City Wednesday afternoon in support of Mark Payne, the city's fire chief, who is facing disciplinary action regarding holding wildland fire-training exercises without a permit or the mayor's permission. "I am convinced that it is more likely than not that you violated state law in conducting an unauthorized fire training on April 19, 2019, on the Banks Lake Golf Course," says a letter Payne received...
Locals overwhelmingly oppose a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposal to ban cars from driving on “Geezer Beach,” a beach named after the elderly who frequent the spot because of its easy accessibility. The issue is a hot topic among locals passionate about the popular fishing spot behind the Third Powerhouse of the Grand Coulee Dam. The bureau released its “Draft Environmental Assessment” in April, outlining options of leaving the situation alone, blocking vehicles from the shore, or simply banning recreation in the area altogether. “The pu...
They came to listen and understand what has some Grand Coulee and Electric City customers upset enough to start a petition. Grant County PUD officials held a listening session and dialogue with people at last Thursday’s Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce meeting at Siam Palace. They heard plenty of opinions on less access at the local PUD office, which is open twice a week, including from Lonna Bussert, who had put out petitions for better customer service after spending lots of time on the phone not getting help. Public Affairs O...
Commissioners from the Coulee Area Park & Recreation District met at North Dam Park April 30 to walk around the park and discuss aspects of it, future plans, and talking points for an upcoming meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the land, and for which CAPRD manages the park. Chairman Kevin Portch and Commissioners Bob Valen, Josh Vega, and Ben Hughes attended the meeting. Absent was Commissioner Carla Marconi. The group toured the concession stand at the upper ballfield and...
Grand Coulee Police 4/12 - An employee at the Hi-Co station on SR-174 reported a counterfeit $20 bill, checked with a special pen. The customers were an identified man and unknown woman. The woman was said to have tried to get the bill back, which the clerk denied. The man later said he got the bill when he sold a bluetooth speaker. The police report states the fraudulent bill is consistent with what is sold online at a particular website. 4/26 - A German man vacationing in the United States when he learned his bank account had been...
Electric City Fire Chief Mark Payne received a letter from the city regarding disciplinary action being considered against him for illegal burning practices. Payne, who forwarded The Star the letter, believes the action is directly related to his role as a key critic of a planned intersection change for which the city has taken heat. The Star was unable to reach Nordine for comment prior to deadline. The April 26 letter signed by Mayor John Nordine puts Payne “on notice of proposed discipline up to and including removal as fire chief and termin...
Banks Lake Golf Course and surrounding land have been declared surplus items, opening up the possibility of them being sold. Grant County Port District 7 commissioners, who manage the golf course as well as the nearby airport, declared the golf course, the clubhouse, equipment, and surrounding land surplus at their April 25 meeting, with a total of 189.3 acres included, valued at $1.64 million. That surrounding land is estimated to be about 79 acres, separate from the golf course, and could...
It’s hard for a child to learn in a classroom if other students are being disruptive, even violent. A conversation about this took place at the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors’ meeting April 22. Clarissa Cawston addressed the board, bringing up behavioral issues in her daughter’s second-grade class, where she began volunteering daily after noticing her daughter’s grades slipping. “She has one kid over here chucking stuff across the room, one kid over here just non-stop talking, one kid over here who will just walk out — and...
Construction has resumed on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation fire station off SR-155, with completion anticipated for March of 2020. The $13.6 million contract was originally awarded to Innovative Construction & Design Ltd. in 2016, with construction beginning in April of 2017. The termination of that contract was confirmed by the bureau in March of this year, and construction has resumed in April by Northcon Construction. "Basically what is going on is ICD originally had the contract, and...
The classic toy LEGO has evolved over the years to incorporate robotics, and students at Nespelem Elementary are using LEGO robots to learn coding and robotics, skills that will be more and more valued in the future. For Inspiration of Science and Technology, or FIRST, is a global program in which students get hands-on experience with things like LEGO robots. FIRST Washington partnered with Nespelem Elementary for an after-school program that averages about six to seven kids, four days a week,...
The city of Coulee Dam has OK’d a lease for the Melody Restaurant space in its community building, the city council Wednesday voting unanimously to approve it and promising cooperation on certain maintenance issues for the new operators. Jon Anderson and Stephanie Guin negotiated a deal with the business’ previous owner over a period of several months, he told The Star in March. They’ve been negotiating the lease with the city since, mostly while operating under the previous lease held by Juan Moreno, who has since been deported to Mexic...
It’s Colorama time next week, when the carnival comes to town, runners lace up those shoes, cowboys ride into town and people line the streets of Grand Coulee for the parade. Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect. We’ll get into more detail with a special section in next week’s Star. Rainier Amusements will again bring in the carnival, as they did last year, beginning Thursday, May 9, at 4 p.m. Presale tickets are still available for less money than you’ll pay at the carnival. The Colorama Color Run is set for 9-11 a.m. Saturday, May 11, a...
Grand Coulee 4/23 - A man who lives in an apartment on Main Street was upset that a man moving into the apartment upstairs was making so much noise he couldn’t hear the TV, and also that his mirror had fallen off the wall and broken while they were moving in upstairs. There was no crime committed. - A caller on Goodfellow Avenue reported that an elderly woman had fallen on her front steps and was lying motionless. The caller didn’t want to check on the her, deciding it was more important to take a shower, the police report states. Police arr...
The local Rotary club will offer a spaghetti dinner this Saturday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Lake Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School cafeteria. The club’s annual fundraiser will support club efforts, including raising money to replace the now non-existent stage curtain at the Lake Roosevelt gym. The curtain, expected to cost about $15,000, is used at special events and performances, including during the annual graduation ceremony. The Grand Coulee Dam Rotary is celebrating its 70th year, and earlier this year listed 40-some local p...
Congressman Dan Newhouse visited Lake Roosevelt Schools Tuesday, touring the building and learning about the challenges the school district faces, particularly financial issues. Newhouse represents Washington's 4th Congressional District, which spans Central Washington from Oregon to Canada, including most of the Grand Coulee Dam area. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner and school board Chairman Rich Black showed the congressman around, and three members of Newhouse's...
Lake Roosevelt students presented projects at a science fair held by the Parent Teacher Association on Thursday. Students from grades 1 through 10 presented projects to a dozen judges, community members with various scientific backgrounds. Projects and experiments presented at the event involved Morse code, the effect petting a dog has on blood pressure, projecting lights onto the inside of a cardboard box - a camera obscura, decomposing vegetables, dissolving bath bombs, the interaction of...
The city of Electric City, as well as engineering firm Gray & Osborne, maintain that they did consider emergency traffic in regard to the upcoming intersection change in Electric City, although not speaking directly to the fire chief about it. An upcoming intersection change in Electric City, which will remove a stretch of Western Avenue at a Y-shaped intersection in front of city hall, was met with criticism by firefighters as well as citizens at an April 9 council meeting, particularly in...
People like getting packages. It's a little bit like Christmas. And someone who has been delivering peoples' packages in the area for 40 years is retiring from United Parcel Service. Merle Roberts started working for UPS on March 23, 1979, working out of what Roberts describes as "a little makeshift unloading dock" in Grand Coulee, "outside year round" before UPS had opened an office on Van Tyne Avenue 13 years later. The job was Roberts' first "real job" aside from doing some farm work in the...
Grand Coulee 4/12 - A driver received a speeding ticket after being pulled over along SR-174 and F Street for going 49 miles per hour in a 35-mph zone. 4/13 - A woman pulled over near the overlook area just above Grand Coulee Dam for having expired tabs was cited for driving without a license. 4/14 - A woman on 3rd Street in Electric City reported intoxicated men fighting in the street. Turns out a man was housesitting a nearby house, and two of his friends came over, eventually fighting in the street. Officers spoke with one of the friends,...
Those living on the Colville Indian Reservation can now sign up to receive alerts regarding severe weather, road conditions, evacuation notices and more. The Colville Business Council announced that the tribes will be using the Colville Reservation Emergency Alert System by CodeRED. “This system enhances public safety as it expands the number of people who will have access to Reservation Emergency Alerts such as: building closures, evacuation notices, road conditions, missing persons and severe weather. These notifications can be sent d...
Citizens, firefighters, engineers, and city officials discussed a controversial possible intersection change in Electric City at the city's April 9 council meeting. About 18 people in the crowd watched or participated in the discussion surrounding the city's plans to remove the stretch of Western Avenue directly in front of city hall and replace it with a sidewalk. Most only found out about the plans through recent articles in The Star, although the project is ready to go out to bid, with...
Cars and coffee are two things beloved around the world, and a way to celebrate cars while drinking coffee on a monthly basis may soon find its way to the community. Sam Hsieh, surgeon and chief medical officer at Coulee Medical Center, is also a car enthusiast. He recently bought a lot at the intersection of Main Street and Spokane Way, where he envisions people could congregate with their cars, drink coffee, and talk with their fellow community members. "The idea is to promote how we bring the...